Hopper car door frame



July 5, 19.55

3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Original Filed Dec. 22

INVENTOR.

July 5, 1955 G. B. DOREY HOPPER CAR DOOR FRAME Original F iled Dec.

3 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR.

July 5, 1955 e. B. DOREY HOPPER CAR DOOR FRAME 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Original Filed Dec. 22, 194'? INVENTOR.

limited States Patent 9 HOPPER can noon FRAME George E. Borcy, Westmount, Quebec, Canada, assignor 0 Enterprise Railway Equipment Company, Chicago, 111., a corporation of Illinois Continuation of abandoned application Serial No.

793,234, l)eeemher 22, 1947. This application May- 1954, Seriai No. 427,997

2 Claims. (Cl. 105-280) cation Serial No. 793,234, filed December 22, 1947, now

abandoned.

A particular object of my invention is to provide a built up welded structure constructed in such a manner that the warping tendency incidental to welded frames will be eliminated and a rigid lightweight frame obtained.

Another object of my invention is to provide a frame which will overcome the limitations of the conventional type of frame made of cast construction and having rough and uneven surfaces and to this end I provide a frame of welded construction having smooth and straight surfaces for cooperation with a discharge door.

A specific object of my improvements is to provide a method of fabricating a frame incorporating therein flanged sections such as angle members whereby the flanges of said sections may be split and the separated sections easily deflected to. join with companion members.

My invention further resides in certain details of construction and refinements such as will be more fully pointed out hereinafter and claimed.

For further comprehension of my invention reference may be had to the accompanying drawings wherein:

Figure 1 is a vertical transverse sectional View taken through a hopper car and showing my improved construction as applied to a hopper on one side of the car.

Figure 2 is a vertical longitudinal side view of that portion of the car illustrated in Figure 1 showing my improved frame structure applied thereto and showing by dot and dash lines the door in opened position.

Figure 3 is a vertical elevational frontal view of the frame proper showing the same on an enlarged scale.

Figure 4 is a vertical side elevational view of the frame shown in Figure 3 as viewed'from left to right.

Figure 5 is a fractional cross sectional view taken through one of the legs of the frame on a line 55 of Figure 3.

Figure 6 is a perspective view of the frame top component.

Figure 7 is a perspective view of the frame bottom component.

Figure 8 is a perspective view of the frame side floor section associated with the outer hopper side wall.

Figure 9 is a perspective view of the frame side floor component associated with the inner side wall of the hopper.

Figure 10 is a frontal elevational view of the frame top member.

Figure 11 is a frontal view of the frame bottom member.

Figure 12 is a frontal elevational view of the frame outer side floor component.

Figure 13 is a frontal elevational view of the frame inner side floor component.

"ice

1n saiddrawings my improvements are shownas applied to a so-called W-type of hopper car in which hoppers are disposed on each side of the center sill in transversely alined relation but inasmuch as the construction of both sides of the center sill is similar, the description herein will be confined to only one of such hoppers. in said drawings, the center sill is shown at 10 and one of theside walls of the car at 11. The hopper construction includes sloping floors 12 and 13 spaced from each other vertically and horizontally and disposed to slope towards each other in order to direct lading to the opening presented between the edge portions of said sloping floors. The upper floor 12 is one of the sloping floors. of a transversely extending ridge sheet structure which extends from side to side of the hopper car.

Leading upwardly and outwardly from the sides of the lower sloping floor 13 on curves of appreciable radius as indicated at 14 are the outer and inner side walls of the hopper as indicated at 15 and 16 respectively. Said outer wall 15 extends at an incline from the side wall of the car and the inner wall 16 extends at a comparatively steep angle from the lower portion of the center sill and at a relatively lesser angle above the center sill as indicated, at 17.

The said sloping bottom wall and associated side walls combine to form a trough shaped hopper having an open end with divergently related side walls which form a hop per having a transversely widened upper portion.

Positioned in the said open end of the hopper is the door frame A, said frame having a four-sided discharge opening B in the form of a forwardly projecting chute. Said frame adjacent the upper end of the discharge opening is provided with hinge butts 18 whereby a discharge door C of pan shaped formation is pivotally supported on the frame for closing the opening. Said, door C when in closed position is arranged to enclose the discharge chute with the body of the door in abutting relation with the edge portion of the chute. The sides of the door opening preferably extend upwardly from the lower curved porti'ons'o'f the hopper and are spaced inwardly from the divergent portions of the side walls and the space intermediate said sides of the chute and the inclined hopper side walls is bridged by plate sections indicated at 19 and 20 respectively.

The frame is built up of four major components including transversely extending top and bottom members. D and E respectively, said respective members being spaced from each other vertically and transversely spaced components as indicated at F and G respectively are disposed in the space intermediate said top and bottom members and in meeting relation therewith.

The top member D preferably consists of an angle shaped member having a flange 21 disposed to underlie the upper sloping wall 12 of the hopper structure and having the adjacent flange 22 outstanding to form the upper wall of the discharge chute. Said outstanding flange 22 is coped adjacent the side walls of the hopper discharge opening as indicated at 23 and adjacent the coped out portion the main flange is slotted at 24 fora short distance and the separated wall portion of the flange is deflected cornerwise as indicated at 25 to dispose the edge portions 26 in the plane of the adjacent side wall of the chute, it being understood that this construction is applicable to both sides of the chute.

The respective plate sections F and G are each formed with a gusset extension 27 arranged to be inserted in the adjacent slotted portion 24 and the inner edge portions of the said plates adjacent the gusset portions are flanged downwardly as at 28 to form the side walls of the chute, said flanges 28 being disposed in the plane of the edge portions 26 of the top member and in meeting relation therewith.

The outer edge portions of said plate sections F and G are flanged upwardly as at 29 and 39 respectively to present walls arranged to overlie the adjacent respective side walls of the hopper. Said plates including the plate sections 19 and 20 are of generally triangular formation and the respective inner and outer flanges gradually converge to eventually merge into, a single wall adjacent the bottom component.

The lower component E is preferably of angle shaped construction with one flange 31 outstanding from the bottom wall of the hopper and the other flange 32 disposed to underlie the hopper bottom wall and project beyond the walls of the hopper structure a suiflcient distance to form the lower wall of the discharge chute. Said wall 32 is of suflicient width to meet with both of the oppositely disposed flanges of the side floor components. Said bottom component is curved at each end as indicated at 33 to embrace the curved corners 14 of the hopper walls and adjacent the outer side wall 15 of the hopper, said wall 32 is split lengthwise at 34 and the v separated sections are then deflected to extend on different contours to respectively meet with the inner and outer flanges of the associated floor section and merge therewith.

The overlying walls of the respective plate sections F and G are formed with outstanding reinforcing marginal flanges as indicated at 35 for plate 29 and at 36 for plate 30, said flanges 35 and 36 extend for a limited distance above the lower portion of the frame and are disposed in the plane of flange 31 of the bottom member.

The edge portions of the respective flanges 35 and 35 are disposed in meeting relation with the end portions of the bottom flanged member and welded thereto as indicated at 37 and 38.

The frame is formed into an integrated structure by further welding and to this end the meeting edge portions of the frame components are welded as indicated at 39, 40, 41 and 42. The top member D is extended laterally to each side of the door opening and the stub portions 43 of the flange 22 disposed in meeting relation with the plate sections F and G and welded thereto as shown at 44 and 45. The plate sections F and G are further secured to the top member D by a welded connection between the gusset portions 27 and the curved corner sections 25 at the upper corners of the opening. I

The disposition of the welding locations is such that the abutting outer surface of the chute walls is readily disposed in one plane to provide a smooth abutting surface for cooperation with the body surface of the door.

The assembly of the frame structure is one which can be readily eliected by unskilled labor.

While I have shown one embodiment of my invention it will be understood that the same is merely illustrative and I contemplate all modifications coming within the scope of the claims appended hereto.

What I claim is:

1. A frame for positioning around a railway car hopper opening defined by a bottom wall and side walls diverging therefrom so as to provide a rectangular discharge opening smaller than said hopper opening comprising, in combination, a top angle member with one flange adapted to lie generally in the plane of said hopper opening and the other flange adapted to define the top wall of both of said openings and having longitudinally severed end portions extending downwardly at right angles to the intermediate portion of said other flange and forming the upper ends of the frame side walls defining said discharge opening, a bottom angle member with one flange adapted to extend generally at right angles to said bottom wall and the other flange adapted to define the bottom wall of both of said openings and having upturned end portions, said top member having a uniform cross-section for the principal portion thereof intermediate its end sections and said bottom member having a uniform cross-section from end to end and both said members being formed of malleable material, and a pair of generally triangularly shaped plate members the sides of which are flanged in opposite directions, said plate members being of uniform thickness throughout, said plate members being disposed with their apexes juxtaposed to said upturned ends of said bottom angle member and welded thereto, the sides of said plate members opposite said apexes extending above said downwardly extending end portions and being juxtaposed to the remaining end portions of said other flange of said top member and welded thereto, the upper ends of the inner flanges of said plate members being juxtaposed to said downwardly extending end portions of said other flange of said top member and welded thereto.

2. A frame for positioning around a railway car hopper opening defined by a bottom wall and side walls diverging therefrorn so as to provide a rectangular discharge opening smaller than said hopper opening comprising, in com bination, a top angle member with one flange adapted to lie generally in the plane of said hopper opening and the other flange adapted to define the top wall of both of said openings and having longitudinally severed end portions extending downwardly at right angles to the intermediate portion of said other flange and forming the upper ends of the frame side walls defining said discharge opening, a bottom angle member with one flange adapted to extend generally at right angles to said bottom wall and the other flange adapted to define the bottom wall of both of said openings and having upturned end portions, said members being formed of metallic rolled stock, said top member having a uniform cross-section for the principal portion thereof intermediate its end sections and said bottom member having a uniform cross-section from end to end, and a pair of generally triangularly shaped metallic plate members of rolled stock with flanges along opposite sides extending in opposite directions, said plate members being of uniform thickness throughout, said plate members being disposed with their apexes juxtaposed to said upturned ends of said bottom angle member and welded thereto, the sides of said plate members opposite said apexes extending above said downwardly extending end portions and being juxtaposed to the remaining end portions of said other flange of said top member and welded thereto, the upper ends of the inner flanges of said plate members being juxtaposed to said downwardly extending end portions of said other flange of said top member and welded thereto.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,341,612 Hankins Feb. 15, 1944 

